Transit-Oriented Development

Santa Clara County's Valley Transportation Agency operates many bus routes and a 3-line, 30.5 mile light rail system, which operates 24 hours a day. The transit system has heavily promoted transit-oriented development, seeking to increase ridership by designing higher-density housing and community services to be located near transit stops. Key projects include the Tamien Child Care Center (which allows commuters to drop off their children at childcare on the way to work), Almaden Lake Village Housing and the Ohlone-Chynoweth Mixed-Use Project.

The BART system of the San Francisco Bay Area has placed increasing emphasis on transit-oriented development both to increase ridership and, as its website says, "to support and sustain BART operations with revenue from development." This website provides access to many BART station area development plans, including the one for the nationally recognized Fruitvale Transit Village in Alameda County. Read more about Bay Area Transit (BART) Station Area Planning...

Dallas' transit system has made significant use of transit-oriented development principles in its design. In 2010, three stations are scheduled to open in the suburb of Carrollton. In preparation, the city has adopted a master plan and hired a design firm to achieve its “vision for a transit-centered community built around passenger platforms and related mixed-use development.” Read more about Carrollton, Texas: Transit Oriented Development...

The Central Corridor Funders Collaborative is a group of local and national funders that supplements the programs and investments of its member foundations along the Central Corridor Light Rail Line by working with community groups and public agencies to encourage collaboration, investment, and planning. With the goal of investing $20 million over 10 years to improve access to affordable housing, foster a strong local economy, and create vibrant, transit-oriented places, the Collaborative has currently raised $5 million to date. Read more about Central Corridor Funders Collaborative...

Located in the Fruitvale neighborhood in Oakland, the Fruitvale Transit Village is an innovative collaboration of the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) and a local community development corporation (Unity Council) to combine affordable housing, community space, and retail establishments in a transit-oriented development project. Completed in the mid 2000s, the award-winning, 257,000 square foot project built on former BART parking lots includes a pedestrian street and plaza; 47 units of mixed-income housing; 114,000 square feet of community services, including a clinic, library, and senior cen Read more about Fruitvale Transit Village...

This site, courtesy of the American Public Transit Association, provides a brief description of one of the nation's smallest cities to use transit-oriented development principles. Open since 2000, the streetcar has helped revitalize the harbor front of this city of under 100,000, located on the shore of Lake Michigan south of Milwaukee. Read more about Kenosha Streetcar...

Portland has long been recognized as a national leader in transit oriented development, supported by its unique "Metro" regional government. Metro's TOD implementation program aims to bring about the construction of "transit villages" and projects that concentrate a mix of retail, housing and jobs in areas around regional light-rail systems and other transit lines. Read more about Metro Transit Oriented Development...

Atlanta has long pursued transit-oriented development (TOD) as part of its mass transit rail system development. One of the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority’s (MARTA) four current TOD projects is the Edgewood/Candler Park Station TOD, which is transforming a 6.4 acre underutilized surface parking lot into a mixed-use development that includes 224 apartments (20 percent of which will be affordable), cultural space, street-level commercial units, and a small park. The first phase of the project, the apartment complex, should be complete in early 2018. To support small, minority and women-owned companies, MARTA has a Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) Program, which aims to award at least 30 percent of its contracts to DBE firms.

Miami recognized the importance of joint development as early as 1978, six years before the opening of its Metrorail transit system, and adopted a city ordinance to specifically promote joint development. A key TOD project now under development is Miami-Dade Transit’s 7th Avenue Transit Village, a $34 million mixed-use project located in Liberty City, one of Miami-Dade’s oldest communities. Phase I, completed in 2015, includes 76 units of affordable housing. Once completed, Phase II will add 100 affordable units, a community theater space, and a metro transit hub.

Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, which runs the Washington DC Metro bus and rail transit system, has been one of the nation's leading practitioners of transit-oriented development. In Fiscal Year 2016, annual lease payments are expected to reach $8 million a year, and the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor in nearby Arlington, Virginia is widely seen as one of the most successful transit oriented development projects nationwide. As of 2015, Metro has catalyzed over $235 billion of economic development at or adjacent to Metro property. Read more about Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA): Joint Development Program...

The BART system of the San Francisco Bay Area has placed increasing emphasis on transit-oriented development both to increase ridership and, as its website says, "to support and sustain BART operations with revenue from development." This website provides access to many BART station area development plans, including the one for the nationally recognized Fruitvale Transit Village in Alameda County. Read more about Bay Area Transit (BART) Station Area Planning...

Dallas' transit system has made significant use of transit-oriented development principles in its design. In 2010, three stations are scheduled to open in the suburb of Carrollton. In preparation, the city has adopted a master plan and hired a design firm to achieve its “vision for a transit-centered community built around passenger platforms and related mixed-use development.” Read more about Carrollton, Texas: Transit Oriented Development...

The Central Corridor Funders Collaborative is a group of local and national funders that supplements the programs and investments of its member foundations along the Central Corridor Light Rail Line by working with community groups and public agencies to encourage collaboration, investment, and planning. With the goal of investing $20 million over 10 years to improve access to affordable housing, foster a strong local economy, and create vibrant, transit-oriented places, the Collaborative has currently raised $5 million to date. Read more about Central Corridor Funders Collaborative...

Located in the Fruitvale neighborhood in Oakland, the Fruitvale Transit Village is an innovative collaboration of the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) and a local community development corporation (Unity Council) to combine affordable housing, community space, and retail establishments in a transit-oriented development project. Completed in the mid 2000s, the award-winning, 257,000 square foot project built on former BART parking lots includes a pedestrian street and plaza; 47 units of mixed-income housing; 114,000 square feet of community services, including a clinic, library, and senior cen Read more about Fruitvale Transit Village...

This site, courtesy of the American Public Transit Association, provides a brief description of one of the nation's smallest cities to use transit-oriented development principles. Open since 2000, the streetcar has helped revitalize the harbor front of this city of under 100,000, located on the shore of Lake Michigan south of Milwaukee. Read more about Kenosha Streetcar...

Portland has long been recognized as a national leader in transit oriented development, supported by its unique "Metro" regional government. Metro's TOD implementation program aims to bring about the construction of "transit villages" and projects that concentrate a mix of retail, housing and jobs in areas around regional light-rail systems and other transit lines. Read more about Metro Transit Oriented Development...

Atlanta has long pursued transit-oriented development (TOD) as part of its mass transit rail system development. One of the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority’s (MARTA) four current TOD projects is the Edgewood/Candler Park Station TOD, which is transforming a 6.4 acre underutilized surface parking lot into a mixed-use development that includes 224 apartments (20 percent of which will be affordable), cultural space, street-level commercial units, and a small park. The first phase of the project, the apartment complex, should be complete in early 2018. To support small, minority and women-owned companies, MARTA has a Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) Program, which aims to award at least 30 percent of its contracts to DBE firms.

Miami recognized the importance of joint development as early as 1978, six years before the opening of its Metrorail transit system, and adopted a city ordinance to specifically promote joint development. A key TOD project now under development is Miami-Dade Transit’s 7th Avenue Transit Village, a $34 million mixed-use project located in Liberty City, one of Miami-Dade’s oldest communities. Phase I, completed in 2015, includes 76 units of affordable housing. Once completed, Phase II will add 100 affordable units, a community theater space, and a metro transit hub.

Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, which runs the Washington DC Metro bus and rail transit system, has been one of the nation's leading practitioners of transit-oriented development. In Fiscal Year 2016, annual lease payments are expected to reach $8 million a year, and the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor in nearby Arlington, Virginia is widely seen as one of the most successful transit oriented development projects nationwide. As of 2015, Metro has catalyzed over $235 billion of economic development at or adjacent to Metro property. Read more about Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA): Joint Development Program...

Santa Clara County's Valley Transportation Agency operates many bus routes and a 3-line, 30.5 mile light rail system, which operates 24 hours a day. The transit system has heavily promoted transit-oriented development, seeking to increase ridership by designing higher-density housing and community services to be located near transit stops. Key projects include the Tamien Child Care Center (which allows commuters to drop off their children at childcare on the way to work), Almaden Lake Village Housing and the Ohlone-Chynoweth Mixed-Use Project.